China is willing to continue cooperating with Russia in the UN Security Council and making efforts to calm the situation in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a telephone call on Sunday.
Wang said the fundamental way to resolve navigation issues in the Strait of Hormuz is to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible, adding that China has always advocated politically resolving conflict issues through dialogue and negotiation.
The foreign ministers’ call came ahead of a UN Security Council vote next week on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
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As permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia should ‘adopt an objective and balanced approach and seek to gain greater understanding and support from the international community,’ Wang told Lavrov, according to a statement from his ministry.
A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said the ministers discussed ways to reach a rapid ceasefire and ‘launch a political-diplomatic dialogue’.
‘Satisfaction was expressed with the coincidence in the approaches of Russia and China on most of the issues on the global agenda, including the situation around Iran, related to the unprovoked aggression of the USA and Israel against that country,’ he said.
China has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East, calling for an end to fighting that has lasted more than a month and has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil and gas shipping artery.
